Ch.1: Emotions

"Astoria! What are you waiting for?" My younger sister Daphne called out to me. This was going to be her first year at Hogwarts; it was my fourth year.

"I'm coming!" I said as a dragged my heavy luggage down the staircase.

"Astoria! What the bloody heck are you waiting for?" she said again.

I eyed her coldly, "You remember what Mum said about those kinds of words."

"Sorry…, but that's how you and Pansy talk!" Daphne complained.

"That's because we are fourteen and you are eleven." I explained.

"But Sharra talks that way, too!" Daphne protested again.

"Pansy's younger sister? Well, maybe her parents think differently than ours. Speaking of which, Mum isn't even home, yet." I reminded her.

"Oh-well still get ready." she demanded.

I rolled my eyes. I heard footsteps outside the door; Draco and Pansy were probably here early. I smiled as I opened the door to my closest friends.

"Sharra!" Daphne exclaimed when she saw Pansy's younger sister.

"Daphne!" Sharra cried out in joy.

Daphne led her up to her room; Daphne still freaks out when Sharra comes over, even thought they see each other at least every two weeks.

"Hey, guys. You're early." I said to my friends.

"My mum is still with your mum in Diagon Alley. She told me to come now." Pansy explained.

"I just came because I was getting bored at my place." Draco smirked.

I looked at his white-blonde hair and deep, blue eyes. He had such a beautiful smile.

Don't feel that emotion I told myself; it was the same thing every time I saw Draco: I had to try so hard not to have feelings for him.

"I'm glad you came early. I have something to show you." I said with a mischievous grin.

"You're not gonna kill us right? I was finally going to ask Blaise out this year." Pansy joked.

Draco whistled, "Pansy Parkinson in 'Her Epic Failure of Dating'."

"Ha Ha. Yeah, Pansy, you say that you are going to ask him out every year!" I added.

"But this year, I actually am planning on getting passed saying 'hello' to him!" Pansy said.

I sighed…I really wanted to enjoy what everyone else does. All my friends can date. But I am the smart one: I am not going to ruin my life by falling for someone who will never love me. Love is way too strong for anyone. It will eventually fade out and leave painful memories behind to invade my dreams and thoughts unexpectedly. No, love shouldn't even exist…but after all these years of my rare belief, I still couldn't (entirely) convince myself.

"Are you going to show us?" Draco asked.

"Oh-right. Come over here." I transformed the tone of my voice into a mysterious one.

I thought I saw Draco smile to himself…maybe he feels the same way about me-NO! I stopped myself. This is another result of love: letting my imagination run wild. I could think that someone likes me, but when I tell them I like them, they will reject me. Rejection. Tears. Pain. Memories. Pain. Pain. Pain. Tears. And more Pain. I should warn Pansy about these things before she asks Blaise out. I don't want her to experience what I try so hard to avoid.

"Are you ready?" I asked remembering that I was going to show my friends something.

"Yes-show us!" Pansy said excitedly.

I led them up the spiral staircase. The beautiful, black railing with wizarding designs in it would have impressed any half blood. But us purebloods are used to exquisite decorations. I wonder what that Mudblood, Granger's, house looks like.

"It's just through this door." I said gesturing to yet another architecturally interesting door.

We entered the room.

"Well-how do you like…my own bedroom?!" I asked excitedly. They looked around at my room: there was marble flooring that lead to my queen size bed. Across the room was a glass door that lead out to the balcony. I had a white dresser and a lard glass window.

"It's fantastic!" Draco said examining the green drapes.

"I love the chandelier," Pansy commented, looking up at my tall ceiling, "It's real diamond, right?" Pansy asked.

"Of course! Everything is real. I don't use plastic replicas like a Mudblood." I teased thinking of Granger.

"What's this?" Draco asked picking up a paper on the ground.

Just before he flipped it over, I saw a drawing of his face with hearts all over it.

"Nothing!" I shouted and snatched the paper from him.

"Gosh! Calm down, Astoria. It's all right. I'm sorry." Draco apologized.

I looked at the paper: it was a drawing of me and my friends. And what I thought were hearts, were only ink stains.

"Oh…here." I said, handing the paper to Draco. I blushed with embarrassment at my own stupidity.

"You drew this?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah." I said, looking down at my feet.

"Let me see." Pansy said grabbing the paper from Draco's hands, "Whoa, you're really good at drawing!"

That only made me flush even more with embarrassment. "Er…thanks."

Draco laughed his beautiful laugh. I smiled at him, but I quickly realized that I was being a little flirty because Draco winked back at me.

I rolled my eyes at his joke. Draco and I are so close that we can do things like that. It was fake, but I usually stop when I noticed that I let my feelings slip.